October Trading Journals

When you make it, it is only numbers. When you lose it, it's dollars and cents. There is nothing in this world that feels better than being short 100,000 QQQ while they tank 3 1/2 points and being long 5000 put contracts at the same time on different tech stocks

But when you are naked the calls and a reversal day like last Thu. comes where you are up over 100K in the morning, and you finish the day down 400K, you want to throw up.

Bill

 

I think the name of the movie is "Big Wednesday". Nevertheless your point was understood.

 

bill, the truth is we don't have a clue as to your future success, hope is all we have but you have our blessings and we surely hope you don't blow up again.

 

but remember...wallstreet isn't a slot machine...duh

 

Hi

Ive recently just started reading some of your posts...i think you are well on your way to a very successful career in trading...i'm a prop trader/recruiter for my firm and the qualities you have shown are exactly what i look for when interviewing candidates....in fact ive used some of your journal entries as examples to my trainees as to how to keep a record of one's trading...your trading methods are very similar to the methods my firm and i try to teach most of our more novice traders...im curious about your position at your firm....it seems from your entries that you pay quite a bit for commissions and bullets...im not trying to rock the boat you're on, im sure you're very happy learning from where you are but as not only a trader but also a recruiter, i know costs and payouts are very important to a traders success in absolute dollar terms....so if you feel free to discuss these issues i would love to talk to you about your setup...if not thats fine too...i just want you to continue posting because i love your journal entries (I find my traders and I looking at alot of the same trades u take during the day... ) Jt

 

First of all there are far superior rookies than me, I have seen people with just 3-4 more months of experience than I do making double or even triple the money I am making, and I need to catch-up.

My rates are:

94% payout, 1 cent per share, $0.60 per ticket (one time daily charge this is more like an annoyance than real cost), $12 bullet ticket, 3.8 cent per share bullet cost.

 

Hi

yeah im sure there are traders out there who might be more profitable than you and are less experienced but what i like about you is your attitude about trading...im not talking about the trades you make but rather your mid set about trading and taking each day as a game and seeing each trade with its own identity and learning from them regardless of win/loss....thats the message im trying to get my traders to see in you...some have and others are learning....consistency/discipline are keys and i see you striving for that instead of the big homeruns...i mean thats what im still working on in my trading...its a hard game but boy do i love it....can be so rewarding!!!
As far as my recruiting....my mistake...i guess i calculated some of your rates wrong....your rates are very competitive....youre better in some(payout/commsission) and im better in others(tickets/bullets etc)....VERY CLSOE RACE...but im based in SF...so if you ever move out here, i would love to have someone like you on my team or lead a teamof your own....thanks for your response
jt

 

Worldco has a SF office as well, while our firm does have its flaws, it is incredibly tough for any other firm to compete with us in term of raw deals, our owner is willing to beat anything and I mean ANYTHING the other firms comes up with, and that includes a fresh start if you know what I mean.

If anyone ever leaves Worldco it is not going to be because of commission rates or payout, that I can assure you

 

Monday woes continue as it was literally a carbon copy of Friday, serious energy move yet I could not score the way I did on Friday. A sudden collapse on energy after what seemed to be a solid breakout and it buried my hope of having a good day as I already missed the initial technology sell-off.

13000 shares on 7 of 11 shooting, +578 before commissions, +150 after. Going to talk to my boss about lower bullet costs and lower capital requirement, I am saving toward an apartment next 12-18 months and I would like to start collecting full pay checks once I have 25K in my account instead of 35K. The firm changed its capital requirement about a month or two after I joined, it is a little thing and I am almost sure he would do it for me. The way I see it, less money you have associated with the firm, better for you.

I removed those filters from my screen today, the truth is if you are going to trade filters you probably have to trade them from the get-go, especially with the 3 day reversal types. There is no way in the world I can trade filters and sectors at same time off the open, and while I will still experiment with Tony's set-ups I am more willing to look at some charts the night before so I know what I am going to trade when the market opens. Trading whatever popping up on that filter just doesn't work for me and proved very distracting. If I am looking for a potential bottompick I will have it ready before the market opens.

Pre-Market: Surprisingly light on sector news, perhaps I should start focusing on earnings news more.

9:30: Little pop on futures and I went long on TYC at 50.10 anticipating a bounce for a gap-fill, out quickly for a dime profit as it was obvious that it is going nowhere. XBD sell-off and I bulleted LM at 43, this stock just refused to move today with the index and I was chipped in him all day, did make a little money after bullet cost but nothing to write home about. XNG quickly sold off and there was a big gap-up on EOG, bulleted that looking for a fill the gap, got 60 cents there. 15 minutes into the game I was up $400, I thought I would hit another four digit game today, boy was I wrong . . .

9:45: OSX reversal, seen it before, long HP for a quarter move when SLB showed sign of weakness, thought it was a squeeze and bulleted a little EOG again at 38.5, OSX made another leg and I saw XNG/APA/APC upticking, I knew I was in trouble but I covered just a tick too late, could have got out for flat instead not only I took a 30 cents loss I flipped into a bad fill at 38.79. Took SGY at 39.61, this stock lagged OSX sooooo much today that it went up after OSX pulled back, I was out for a small loss and it went up 0.75 point.

10:22: OSX hitting a new high, I took DO and RIG, I was in the money by a quarter and everything looked great, all of a sudden BID got hit and I pared half out but held the other half, and the index just folded as offers showed up everywhere, by the time I got out, I ended up flat on those two positions. Fortunately I took a pair of 20 cents scalps on NSM and DO . . . But I churned a lot of EOG . . . It did fill the gap, in final hour, and I wasn't short anymore.

3:00: No trades in between, slow sell-off, if you weren't already short, too late, I was able to scalp a little GE and TYC, but overall, it was not a strong performance on my part, as I really really should have capitalized more on that energy move in the morning.

Two games left in the month, I hope I can finish with 8K . . .